My latest Hall of Fame & Tobacco Card Acquisition

The Pirates have 37 Alumni who played at least one game with the Pittsburgh Pirates in the Hall of Fame.  Of that group, only 11 were inducted into the Hall having played more games with Pittsburgh than any other franchise that individual had played for.

Recent inductees like Bert Blyleven and Goose Gossage had wonderful careers, but likely won't be remembered a generation from now as being on the Pirates.

The Pirates were a powerhouse in the early 1900s being lead by the greatest shortstop of All-Time, Honus Wagner, and leftfielder, Fred Clarke.

My ultimate goal is to add autographs of Hall of Famers, Roberto Clemente and Honus Wagner, but adding Fred Clarke was a major score to my collection.

This 2015 Historic Autographs includes a cut auto of the 1909 World Series Champion along with an original t206 Piedmont trading card.

Clarke finished his career with over 2,600 hits, a career batting average of .312 and an on base percentage of .386 while swiping 509 bags.  His best season may have come in his final season before joining the Pirates back in 1899 when he hit .340, stole 49 bags, and only struck out 18 times in 681 plate appearances.  He became the player manager his first year with the Bucs in 1900.

I was having a conversation with my brother the other day and what I find most fascinating about adding these incredible cut autographs to the collection is that guys like Fred Clarke had passed away before Carlos Correa's father was even born.  Wrap your head around that for perspective.  Fred Clarke was born before electricity really took off with Thomas Edison's inventions.

My first Babe AUTO!!!!

2013 Historic Autographs offered a rather unique product to the public.  Each PSA/DNA contained a cut auto of a historic player and either an original tobacco card OR an original artwork of a tobacco card of the player from 1909-1912.  These retailed for $270 a box.  Each box contained 1 autograph.

I saw the sell sheet of the players available and there were some very big names like Ty Cobb, Nap Lajoie, and Walter Johnson.  There was also a cut auto of the Pittsburgh Pirates all-time Wins leader, Babe Adams which I snagged for $125.

2013 Historic Autographs Babe Adams Cut Auto 10/18

Charles Benjamin "Babe" Adams spent 18 years with the Pittsburgh Pirates posting a 194-139 record with a 2.74 ERA and 1.09 WHIP.  He received above 10% voting for the Hall of Fame only once in 1947.  The two time World Series Champ (1909 and 1925) would go on to serve as a reporter for World War II.

The most remarkable thing I read about Babe was that he once pitched all 21 innings of a game against the NY Giants without allowing a walk.  In nearly 3,000 innings pitched, Babe allowed only 430 walks (1.3BB/9).